VIDEO: Blackburn Shreds Activist Professors for Stoking the Flames of Political Violence After Charlie Kirk’s Murder
October 28, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution hearing titled “Politically Violent Attacks: A Threat to Our Constitutional Order,” U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and conservative political commentator Michael Knowles discussed how left-wing activist educators at Tennessee universities stoked the flames of political violence following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Senator Blackburn called for these Tennessee professors to be removed from their positions at Cumberland University, Middle Tennessee State University, and UT Knoxville. Two of these educators have been terminated, and the third is currently in termination proceedings.
Click here to download Senator Blackburn’s exchange with Michael Knowles during the Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on political violence.
On the Disturbing Posts from Tennessee Activist Educators Following the Political Assassination of Charlie Kirk:
Senator Blackburn: “I want to return to the topic of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and one of the things that was quite disturbing to me was quotes that came from activist professors. We had in Tennessee, three professors that made just horrendous statements. Two have been terminated. One is going through a termination hearing at this point.
“An assistant dean at MTSU posted on Facebook, ‘Looks like ole’ Charlie spoke his fate into existence. Hate begets hate, zero sympathy.’
“There was an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee, and their post referenced Charlie Kirk, and it was ‘the world is better off without him in it, even those who are claiming to be sad for his wife and kids. His kids are better off living in a world without a disgusting psychopath like him and his wife.’
“And then an English professor at Cumberland University posted on Facebook, ‘crying about a Nazi getting shot while staying silent about the school shooting in Colorado today is peak Republican.’”
On Threats Violent Rhetoric Poses in Higher Education:
Senator Blackburn: “People that praise violence should not be anywhere near our children. I do not know of a parent that wants their child to be receiving instruction from an individual who glorifies and applauds brutal murder and the murder of a husband, a father, the murder of someone who believes, like me, that our nation has been kept free because we believe in robust, respectful, bipartisan debate. I would like for you to talk for just a minute about what is happening in higher education and the role that seems to be playing in some of this violence and violent rhetoric.”
Michael Knowles: “I think you make a marvelous point, Senator. You cannot possibly expect a parent to send their children to a school where the professors might endeavor to kill half the students. It would be like, you know, going to a restaurant with the assumption that the waiters want to poison half the customers, or something like that. You can't. You can't go to a hospital where the nurses want to kill half the patients. It's just you cannot operate a society that way. That is obviously beyond the pale.”
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